To me, that’s the most important state news of the month, as it should make it easier for people to register to vote and keep their registration current. New registrations and changes to name, address and party affiliation can be made on the state site here, or through the Collier Supervisor of Elections at colliervotes.com.

Getting to work in Tallahassee

In October, committees began meeting and legislators began filing bills for the 2018 legislative session that begins in January.

Every 20 years in Florida, a Constitution Revision Commission is appointed. It meets for approximately one year, traveling across the state, identifying issues, performing research and possibly recommending changes to the Florida Constitution. It holds public hearings to learn about issues that matter to Floridians and considers proposed constitutional amendments submitted by the public and by commissioners.

Over 2,000 public proposals were submitted to the 2017–18 CRC by the deadline of October 6; list here.

Out of the 2,000-plus ideas, the commission agreed to “sponsor” (i.e. consider further) only six (list here) — an acceptance rate of .3 percent. The League of Women Voters of Florida and 10 other organizations protested this result in a letter to the CRC Chairman and Commission members:

(You) issued a stunning rejection of the thousands of Floridians who invested considerable time and effort to share their ideas and draft proposals for improving their constitution…. (T)his commission’s actions are brazenly dismissive of the concerns and suggestions of Floridians.

Also of note: CRC Commissioner Erika Donalds, a Collier County School Board member who is married to Rep. Byron Donalds, submitted five proposed amendments. They are:

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS - P 18 - establishes “the inalienable right of all persons to pursue an honest trade, vocation, occupation, or career”

SUFFRAGE AND ELECTIONS - P 31 - removes the requirement that a method of public financing for campaigns for statewide office be established by law

EDUCATION - P 32 - provides that members of the State Board of Education, district school boards, state university boards of trustees, and the Board of Governors of the State University System shall serve without compensation…

Collier voters chose many years ago to have the Superintendent appointed by the School Board.

EDUCATION - P 43 - establishes term limits for members of district school boards.

Call to action: If there is a proposed amendment that you do not want to see moved forward to the 2018 ballot, let your voice be heard! The CRC will consider public input on proposals prior to their final vote. You can email Commissioners directly here.

Other top stories

Florida budget woes go from bad to worse after Irma. Budget analysts had already predicted a $1.6 billion budget shortfall by 2020, caused by spending decisions in Tallahassee and an increase in the school and Medicaid populations that outpace revenue growth. On top of that is Irma, which has already caused the state to use $141 million in rainy day funds. The Florida Times-Union

Pension numbers increase budget pressure. Lowering the expected rate of return on Florida’s $154 billion pension fund will put more pressure on lawmakers as they craft a new state budget. The decrease from a 7.6 percent return to 7.5 percent will require an additional $124 million in state funding in the 2018–2019 budget to keep the pension fund financially sound. The Ledger

Schools Without Rules: An Orlando Sentinel Investigation. The Sentinel spent months reporting on Florida’s scholarship programs, which will send nearly $1 billion to private schools this year. It also reviewed thousands of pages of Florida Department of Education documents, court records and other materials and interviewed dozens of people, including parents, students, school operators and policy experts. Orlando Sentinel

Monday, October 23, 2017

Long before Florida entered the deadliest hurricane season in a decade, auditors at the state’s Division of Emergency Management sent out a warning: the state was ill-prepared for a major disaster.A 23-page annual audit completed in December 2016 by the agency’s inspector general detailed a lengthy list of deficiencies needed to prepare and respond to a hurricane. Among them:

Food and water supplies at the distribution center in Orlando were inadequate.

Contracts with companies that would supply cots to shelters had expired.

The agreements many trucking companies had signed with the state’s emergency management agency to distribute supplies had lapsed.

The agency was using “a spreadsheet created in the 1980s to help predict the amount of supplies and equipment that may be needed after a storm makes landfall,” as the state’s giant storage facility remained half empty.

What’s worse, auditors warned, the state’s emergency managers didn’t know what they didn’t know. "Action is needed to determine the requirements of the state for supplies and equipment in the event of a disaster in order to ensure that adequate types and quantities of disaster supplies and equipment are available, inspectors said. The report concluded: “The division’s ability to respond to disasters may be impaired.”

In doing research for this post, I discovered that the same day the article was published, the state Department of Emergency Management (DEM) issued a press release titled “Times/Herald Mischaracterizes Readers On State Hurricane Preparedness.” It said the audit was one of several “internal reviews” commissioned by the Department that year “to assess and improve our organization’s abilities,” and that in the months since, “the Division has made tremendous strides in advancing its capabilities with regards to leadership, personnel and processes, and will continue to improve our service to Floridians.”

“At no point before, during or after Hurricane Irma’s impact were any unmet needs expressed by county emergency managers or county leaders in all of Florida’s 67 counties. In fact, resource needs were met in such a robust fashion that many counties were able to return large quantities of these items to both FEMA and the State of Florida – a testament to the effective response coordinated by the State Emergency Response Team.”

So -- was the state ill-prepared for Hurricane Irma as the article suggested, or did the Times/Herald mischaracterize the situation, as the DEM claimed?

The truth is undoubtedly somewhere in between. “No one can say if the shortages of supplies and the expired contracts hampered the ability of emergency managers to prepare Florida for Hurricane Irma or delayed its recovery,” said the article. “However, in the days leading up to the storm, there were anecdotal accounts of supply shortages and transportation lapses.”

The December 2016 audit report made four specific recommendations to DEM:

Conduct an analysis to ascertain the requirements of the state for supplies and equipment of all kinds needed during a disaster;

Develop standards for the types and quantities of supplies and equipment the Division will have available in the event of a disaster;

Identify and implement the most efficient and effective method for ensuring the availability of supplies and equipment needed during a disaster; and

Renew, replace, or modify contracts to ensure that the Division’s current logistics plan can be executed in the event of a disaster. These contracts should be reevaluated after the Division conducts an analysis to ascertain the requirements of the state for supplies and equipment of all kinds needed during a disaster.

DEM said it concurred with the report and outlined how it planned to address each of the findings. It said it estimated completion of the analysis called for by December 31, 2017, and that it would address the other findings by March 31, 2018.

If it does, Florida should be much better prepared for the next hurricanes that challenge our state.

Thursday, October 12, 2017

Recently I learned how to access in one place information I used to struggle through multiple web searches to find: the names, district numbers and contact information of my elected officials across all levels of government.

It's available through the Collier Supervisor of Elections website, but it's not very easy to find. Here's how:

After you click “Submit,” a web page like the one below will open. The light-blue box at the top contains your voter registration and sample ballot information. While you're there, make sure everything is correct, or click where indicated to make changes.

In the middle of the box, click “Office Holders.”

your voter registration and sample ballot information

A web page like the one below will open. It will list the elected officials whose districts contain your street address:

the office holders that represent you

If you click an office holder's name, you will be taken to her/his website.

Take a few minutes and check this out! It's a great way to find out or confirm who represents you.

Every person listed is your representative. Know who they are so you can hold them accountable. Let your voice be heard.

Monday, October 2, 2017

As at the state level, Hurricane Irma dominated September’s news related to our county and municipal governments and school district, and there is much to report. But I'd like to begin with this quote from Friday’s Naples Daily News editorial:

There will be a time to constructively dissect the Irma preparation and post-storm response. Now is too soon. Monday morning quarterbacks will best serve our community if they wait on the sidelines for more fact-finding.

In this post, I share the news as reported, and without comment. As you read this post, please consider each story from the perspective of the elected officials responsible. If you were they, would you have done anything differently? What facts would you be seeking in order to decide what to do next?

If ever there was an opportunity to see and evaluate your government in action, it was during Hurricane Irma. If you have comments, questions or suggestions about any of last month’s events, I encourage you to share them with your elected officials.

As a reminder, these are the local governing bodies that were/are responsible for providing services to our community:

The Collier County Sheriff - The Sheriff and his staff are responsible, on a day-to-day basis, for “preserving and protecting the lives, property and constitutional guarantees of all persons.”

The City of Naples City Council, City of Marco Island City Council and City of Everglades City City Council and their respective City managers and staffs are responsible for providing services and protecting their municipalities. (Ironically, Everglades City’s mayor of 22 years resigned over problems with the City’s sewer plant just days before Hurricane Irma wreaked its havoc.)

The Collier County Public School Board — The School Board’s appointed superintendent and her staff provided hurricane-protected shelters for community members who evacuated their homes due to the predicted storm surge.

Keys get FEMA trailers; Collier residents left homeless. Monroe County leaders sought housing help days after Irma passed. Collier and state officials did not request trailers from FEMA until Tuesday, 16 days after the hurricane devastated some of the poorest communities in the county.

Immokalee graves covered in water. Some parts of Lake Trafford Memorial Gardens are covered in standing water from Hurricane Irma and recent rainfall. County Commissioner Bill McDaniel said the county is in the process of bringing down the floodwaters for good at the cemetery. NBC–2

Commentary: #CCPSStrong - Back to the classroom together. As Irma changed direction and headed right for Collier, the storm surge predictions became dire and the evacuation zones expanded. Ultimately 29 schools provided shelter to over 17,000 guests. By Kamela Patton, Superintendent - Collier County Public Schools. CCPS

Purchase needed items from the United Way of Collier County’s Amazon Wish List for Hurricane Irma Victims. The items you order will be shipped to the United Way, which will get them delivered to areas that need them the most.

Make a tax-deductible donation to the Collier Comes Together Disaster Relief Fund, established to provide assistance to Hurricane Irma victims and their families. You can designate a geographic area (e.g. Marco Island, Immokalee, Golden Gate), purpose (e.g. food, housing) or nonprofit to benefit.

Thank you for wanting to be an informed voter and for making a difference in our community.